By Matthew Murray

[EDITOR’S NOTE: We’re giving an indie sales chart a whirl once again. Please let us know what you think!]

August was the best month for Archie for a long, long time in the direct market, with the first issue of the “Archie gets married” story line being the best selling non-Marvel/DC title in the direct market.

For other comics, Chew’s sales continue climbing very rapidly, while there seems to be an oddity relating to Tyrone Gibson’s Mayhem.

I’m listing all the non Marvel/DC titles in the top 100 (all seven of them) and a number of other titles, which are well known or “important”. Let me know if there’re any titles you’d like to see included next month.

Thanks to icv2.com and Milton Griepp for permission to use these numbers, which can be found at here.

 35 Archie (Archie)

08/2005: Archie #559 - 2,888
08/2006: Archie #568 - 2,697
08/2007: -
08/2008: Archie #588 - 2,818
=====
01/2009: Archie #593 – 2,318
02/2009: - 
03/2009: Archie #595 - 2,484
04/2009: - 
05/2009: Archie #597 - 2,563
06/2009: - 
07/2009: - 
08/2009: Archie #600 - 54,170
				6 month (n.a.)
				1 year (+1822.2%)
				2 year (n.a.)
				3 year (+1908.5%)
				4 year (+1775.7%)

The “Archie gets married” story begins. Percentagewise this must be one of the biggest increases any comic has ever received. As you can see, Archie (the best selling of the Archie universe* comics through the direct market) usually sells somewhere in the mid 2000s, and is generally pretty stable. The blanks are for months when its sales do not reach the minimum needed for the top 300.

I know the Archie digests are primarily sold through supermarkets and the like, but I’m not sure if/how well the full size comics do through those markets. Or if this particular issue would have been ordered more heavily there. It’ll be interesting to see how well these orders hold up for the rest of the storyline, and if any of the readership will stick around after that.

*By comparison, Archie’s best selling comic in the direct market is usually Sonic the Hedgehog, with this month’s issue (#203) selling 8,166 copies.

 37 Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Dark Horse) 

08/2007: -
08/2008: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #17 - 79,307
=====
01/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #21 - 69,980 ()
02/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #22 - 67,575 (-3.4%)
03/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #23 - 64,108 (-5.1%)
04/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #24 - 60,916 (-5.0%)
05/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #25 - 58,740 (-3.6%)  
06/2009: BTVS Tales of the Vampires one shot- 45,568 (-22.4)
07/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #26 - 55,393 (+21.6%)
08/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #27 - 53,403 (-3.6%)
				6 month (-20.1)
				1 year (-32.6)
				2 year (-)

Continues a slow decline.

 86 The Boys (Dynamite) 

08/2006: The Boys #1 (DC) - 31,636
08/2007: The Boys #9 - 32,570
08/2008: The Boys #21 - 27,523
=====
01/2009: The Boys #26 - 26,802
02/2009: The Boys #27 - 25,982 (-.31%)
03/2009: The Boys #28 - 26,328 (-1.3%)
04/2009: The Boys #29 - 26,033 (-1.1%)
05/2009: The Boys #30 - 28,365 (+9.0%)
06/2009: The Boys #31 - 25,460 (-10.0%)
07/2009: The Boys #32 - 25,231 (-0.8%)
08/2009: The Boys #33 - 24,684 (-2.1%)
				6 month (-4.9%)
				1 year (-10.3%)
				2 year (-24.2%)
				3 year (-22.0%) 

The best selling creator-owned title this month. The bump for issue 30 was for a Jim Lee cover that was split 50/50 with the normal one.

 87 The Walking Dead (Image)
 
08/2004: -
08/2005: The Walking Dead #21 - 17,668
08/2006: The Walking Dead #30 - 20,540
08/2007: The Walking Dead #40 - 22,989
08/2008: The Walking Dead #51 - 23,121
=====
01/2009: The Walking Dead #57 - 23,402
02/2009: The Walking Dead #58 - 22,720 (-2.9%)
03/2009: The Walking Dead #59 - 23,257 (+2.4%)
04/2009: The Walking Dead #60 - 23,585 (+1.4%)
05/2009: The Walking Dead #61 - 23,902 (+1.3%)
06/2009: The Walking Dead #62 - 23,910 (0%)
07/2009: The Walking Dead #63 - 24,001 (+0.3%)
08/2009: The Walking Dead #64 - 24,393 (+1.6%)
				6 month (+7.4%)
				1 year (+5.5%)
				2 year (+6.1%)
				3 year (+18.8%)
				4 year (+38.1%) 

Issue 63 was a flip book with issue 1 of Chew reprinted (in black and white), but that didn’t seem to affect sales. The slow, but steady, climb continues.

 93 Star Wars Legacy (Dark Horse)
08/2006: - 
08/2007: Star Wars Legacy #15 - 31,539
08/2008: Star Wars Legacy #27 - 28,549
=====
01/2009: Star Wars Legacy #32 - 25,814
02/2009: Star Wars Legacy #33 - 25,389 (-1.6%)
03/2009: Star Wars Legacy #34 - 25,304 (-0.3%)
04/2009: Star Wars Legacy #35 - 24,552 (-3.0%)
05/2009: Star Wars Legacy #36 - 24,166 (-1.6%)
06/2009: Star Wars Legacy #37 - 23,704 (-1.9%)
07/2009: Star Wars Legacy #38 - 23,162 (-2.3%)
08/2009: Star Wars Legacy #39 - 22,888 (-1.2%)
				6 month (-9.9%)
				1 year (-19.9%)
				2 year (-27.4%) 

The best selling Star Wars title.

 95 Angel (IDW)

08/2005: The Curse #3 (of 5) - 13,239
08/2006: Spotlight Conor One Shot - 8,101
08/2007: -
08/2008: After the Fall #11 - 44,905
=====
01/2009: After the Fall #16 - 34,801
02/2009: After the Fall #17 - 32,842 (-5.6%)
02/2009: Angel #18 - 32,061 (-2.4%)
03/2009: Angel #19 - 31,767 (-0.9%)
04/2009: Angel #20 - 30,308 (-4.6%)
05/2009: Angel #21 - 28,633 (-5.5%)
06/2009: Angel #22 - 27,496 (-4.0%)
07/2009: Angel: After the Fall – Epilogue #23 - 24,003 (-12.7%)
08/2009: Angel #24 - 22,795 (-5.0%)
				6 month (-30.6%)
				1 year (-49.9%)
				2 year (n.a)
				3 year (+181.4%)
				4 year (+72.2%) 

Ouch, even ignoring the massive one year drop, the last two months have not been kind to the Angel series. I’m sure IDW thought putting “After the Fall” on the cover would help sell more copies, but apparently not. The “season six” story, and Joss Whedon’s involvement, finished with issue 17, and after the five part “Aftermath” story from 18-22, we’re into one and two part stories for the foreseeable future.

Sales are still well above what they were before the series was relaunched, and IDW is happy enough with them as they continue to launch spin off mini series.

 97 The Boys: Herogasm (Dynamite)
 
05/2009: Herogasm #1 - 27,105
06/2009: Herogasm #2 - 23,500 (-13.3%)
07/2009: Herogasm #3 - 22,695 (-3.4%)
08/2009: Herogasm #4 - 22,073 (-2.7%) 

Just a couple thousand below its parent title. If Ennis wants to do any more spinoffs I’m sure Dynamite would be perfectly happy to publish them.

 102 Star Wars Invasion (Dark Horse)

07/2009: Invasion #1 (of 5) - 24,548
08/2009: Invasion #2 (of 5) - 21,004 (-14.4%) 

Outsells all the other Star Wars ongoings by at least several thousand.

 105 Hellboy (Dark Horse)
 
08/2007: Darkness Calls #5 (of 6) - 24,743
08/2008: The Crooked Man #2 (of 3) - 25,555
=====
01/2009: The Wild Hunt #2 [of 8] - 22,784
02/2009: The Wild Hunt #3 [of 8] - 21,664 (-4.9%)
03/2009: The Wild Hunt #4 [of 8] - 21,743 (+0.4%)
04/2009: -
05/2009: -
06/2009: -
07/2009: - 
08/2009: Wild Hunt #5 - 20,375 (-6.3%)
				6 month (-6.0%)
				1 year (-20.3%)
				2 year (-17.7%) 

Looks like the four month gap had a detrimental affect on sales, as they’d gone up slightly for the previous issue.

 115 Conan the Cimmerian (Dark Horse)

08/2004: Conan #7 - 47,052
08/2005: Conan #19 - 35,455
08/2006: Conan #’31 - 30,887
08/2007: Conan #43 - 23,843
08/2008: The Cimmerian #2 - 25,762
=====
01/2009: The Cimmerian #7 - 21,782
02/2009: The Cimmerian #8 - 20,983 (-3.7%)
03/2009: The Cimmerian #9 - 20,555 (-2.0%)
04/2009: The Cimmerian #10 - 20,419 (-0.7%)
05/2009: - 
06/2009: The Cimmerian #11 - 20,041 (-1.9%)
07/2009: The Cimmerian #12 - 19,268 (-3.9%)
08/2009: The Cimmerian #13 - 18,881 (-2.0%)

				6 month (-10.0%)
				1 year (-26.7%)
				2 year (-20.8%)
				3 year (-38.9%)
				4 year (-46.7%)
				5 year (-59.9%) 

Fell below sales of the previous series a long time ago. I wonder if it would have done better if they had named it “The Barbarian” or “The Destroyer” instead? I’m guessing there were copyright/trademark reasons why they couldn’t do that.

 116 GI Joe (IDW)
08/2004: GI Joe #33 (Devil’s Due) - 28,004
08/2005: GI Joe: America’s Elite #2 (Devil’s Due) - 22,130
08/2006: GI Joe: America’s Elite #14 (Devil’s Due) - 17,315
08/2007: GI Joe: America’s Elite #26 (Devils Due) - 15,354
08/2008: - 
=====
01/2009: GI Joe #1 - 32,840
02/2009: GI Joe #2 - 23,641 (-28.0%)
03/2009: GI Joe #3 - 22,902 (-31.2%)
04/2009: GI Joe #4 - 22,735 (-0.7%)
05/2009: GI Joe #5 - 21,968 (-3.4%)
06/2009: GI Joe #6 - 20,809 (-5.3%)
07/2009: GI Joe #7 - 20,319 (-2.4%)
08/2009: GI Joe #8 - 18,750 (-7.7%)
				6 month (-20.7%)
				1 year (n.a.)
				2 year (+22.1%)
				3 year (+8.9%)
				4 year (-15.3%)
				5 year (-33.0%) 

The best selling GI Joe comic has a bigger than average drop for no readily apparent reason. Suggestions?

 117/119 Star Wars Dark Times 
08/2007: -
08/2008: -
=====
01/2009: -
02/2009: -
03/2009: -
04/2009: Dark Times #13 Blue Harvest pt 1 (of 5) - 19,256
05/2009: -
06/2009: -
07/2009: -
08/2009: Blue Harvest #0 - 18,601
08/2009: Dark Times #14 Blue Harvest pt 2 (of 5) – 18,477

				6 month (n.a.) 

Issue 0 features stories originally published online by MySpace Dark Horse presents in January and February. Issue 12 of Dark Times came out in June 2008, as the part of the Vector crossover between all the Star Wars titles, and sold 23,888 copies. Based on sales of SW: Invasion it seems Dark Horse would have been better off doing this as a stand alone miniseries.

 122 Project Superpowers (Dynamite) 

08/2008: Project Superpowers #4 (of 7) - 33,124
=====
06/2009: Chapter Two #0 - 31,828
07/2009: Chapter Two #1 - 22,282 (-30.0%)
08/2009: Chapter Two #2 - 17,377 (-22.0%)
				6 month (n.a.)
				1 year (-47.5%) 

These are not healthy drops.

 127 Project Superpowers: Meet the Bad Guys (Dynamite)

08/2008: Meet the Bad Guys #1 (of 4) - 16,882 

About what you’d expect based on the previous spin-off mini series. (Masquerade ended in July with sales of 12,690.)

 133 Invincible (Image)    
08/2004: #14 - 8,219
08/2005: #24 - 12,031
08/2006: #34 - 13,610
08/2007: #45 - 14,123
08/2008: -
=====
01/2009: #58 - 14,233 
02/2009: #59 - 13,946 (-2.0%)
03/2009: #60 - 15,777 (+13.1%)
04/2009: #61 - 15,678 (-0.6%)
05/2009: #62 - 15,113 (-3.6%)
06/2009: #63 - 15,226 (+0.7%)
07/2009: #64 - 15,535 (+2.0%)
08/2009: #65 - 15,621 (+0.6%)
				6 month (+12.0%)
				1 year (n.a.)
				2 year (+10.6%)
				3 year (+14.8%)
				4 year (+30.0%)
				5 year (+90.0%) 

Issue 60 was the start of the Image universe crossover, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, Invincible has held onto the increase from that issue.

 135 BPRD (Dark Horse)
08/2005: The Black Flame #1 (of 6) - 16,725
08:2006: Universal Machine #5 (of 5) - 15,655
08/2007: Killing Ground #1 (of 5) - 17,355
08/2008: The Warning #2 (of 5) - 16,729
=====
01/2009: Black Goddess #1 (of 5) - 15,984
02/2009: Black Goddess #2 (of 5) - 15,120 (-5.4%)
03/2009: Black Goddess #3 (of 5) - 15,045 (-0.5%)
04/2009: Black Goddess #4 (of 5) - 14,543 (-3.3%)
05/2009: Black Goddess #5 (of 5) - 14,357 (-1.3%)
06/2009: War on Frogs #3 (of 4) - 13,828 (-3.7%)
07/2009: 1947 #1 (of 5) - 15,845 (+14.6%)
08/2009: 1947 #2 (of 5) - 14,893 (-6.0%) 
				6 month (-1.5%)
				1 year (-11.0%)
				2 year (-14.2%)
				3 year (-4.9%)
				4 year (-10.1%) 

War on Frogs are occasional one shots between the normal series. Sales on the regular (series of mini) series is fairly consistent.

 142 Chew #3 (Image)
06/2009: #1 - 5,248 [8,937]
07/2009: #2 - 6,735 (-24.6%)
08/2009: #3 13,762 (+104.3%) 

Issue #1 sold 3,689 copies of the second printing this month (added in the [ ] brackets), and more than likely sold a similar number last month as well (the bottom comic on the chart for July sold just over 4,000 units), meaning the sales for issue one are probably around the first month sales for issue #3. A fourth printing of issue one was available in September. Issues 2 and 3 have also gone into multiple printings.

 153 Predator (Dark Horse)
06/2009: #1 (of 4) - 17,065
07/2009:-
08/2009: #2 (of 4) - 12,818 (-24.9%) 

Alternating months with Dark Horses Aliens comic, which sells a couple thousand better.

 162 Transformers: All Hail Megatron (IDW)
08/2008: All Hail Megatron #2 - 13,363
=====
01/2009: -
02/2009: All Hail Megatron #7 - 11,832
03/2009: All Hail Megatron #8 - 11,731 (-0.8%)
03/2009: All Hail Megatron #9 - 11,479 (-2.1%)
04/2009: All Hail Megatron #10 - 12,183 (+6.1%)
05/2009: All Hail Megatron #11 - 12,292 (+0.9%)
06/2009: All Hail Megatron #12 - 12,124 (-1.4%)
07/2009: All Hail Megatron #13 - 11,892 (-1.9%)
08/2009: All Hail Megatron #14 - 11,736 (-1.3%)
				6 month (-0.8%)
				1 year (-12.2%) 

The best selling of the Transformers titles was extended from its original plan of 12 issues up to 16. Issues 13-16 are standalones written by different writers, which doesn’t seem to have aversely affected sales.

 163 Red Sonja (Dynamite) 
08/2006: Red Sonja #13 - 28,996 
08/2007: Red Sonja #25 - 20,764
08/2008: Red Sonja #36 - 14,834
=====
01/2009: -
02/2009: Red Sonja #41 - 13,232
02/2009: Red Sonja She Devil with a Sword Annual #2 - 9,658 (-27.0%)
03/2009: Red Sonja #42 - 12,508 (+29.5%)
04/2009: Red Sonja #43 - 12,318 (-1.5%)
05/2009: Red Sonja #44 - 12,099 (-1.8%)
06/2009: Red Sonja #45 - 12,030 (-0.6%)
07/2009: Red Sonja #46 - 11,993 (-0.3%)
08/2009: Red Sonja #47 - 11,709 (-2.4%)
				6 month (-11.5%)
				1 year (-21.1%)
				2 year (-43.6%)
				3 year (-59.6%) 

While the year comparisons don’t look too good, the sales since March have been pretty steady.

 165 Witchfinder in the A Service of Angels (Dark Horse)

07/2009: Witchfinder #1 (of 5) - 13,724
08/2009: Witchfinder #2 (of 5) - 11,652 (-15.1%) 

A Hellboy/BPRD spinoff that I can’t help but think would have sold better if they’d put “BPRD” in the title

 179 Terry Moore’s Echo (Abstract)

08/2008: Echo #5 - 14,047
=====
01/2009: Echo #9 - 6,132 [12,056]
02/2009: Echo #10 - 3,325 [11,253] (-6.7%)
03/2009: -
04/2009: Echo #11 - 11,293 (+0.4%)
05/2009: Echo #12 - 11,093 (-1.8%)
06/2009: - 
07/2009: Echo #13 - 10,783 (-2.8%)
08/2009: Echo #14 - 10,663 (-1.1%)
				6 month (-5.2)
				1 year (-24.1%) 

Fairly solid over all.

 207 Astounding Wolf-Man (Image)

01/2009: Wolf-Man #12 - 7,244
02/2009: Wolf-Man #13 - 7,360 (+1.6%)
03/2009: -
04/2009: Wolf-Man #14 - 7,837 (+6.5%)
04/2009: Wolf-Man #15 - 7,455 (-4.9%)
05/2009: Wolf-Man #16 - 7,721 (+3.6%)
06/2009: -
07/2009: Wolf-Man #17 - 7,724 (0.0%)
08/2009: Wolf-Man #18 - 7,411 (-4.0%)
				6 month (+0.7) 

The only one of Robert Kirkman’s books not to see much of a sales increase month to month. Also, I think, the only one to miss his promise of “on time in 09”.

 233 Tyrese Gibson’s Mayhem (Image)
08/2009: Mayhem #1 (of 3) - 5,868 

Hmm, what about those 10,000 sales to one store (Meltdown Comics in LA)? Well, they had an exclusive cover for issue one, which hasn’t been included here, as they were sold at a higher discount than the normal edition, and were thus deemed a “promo item” by Diamond and didn’t count towards chart placement.

 292 King City (Image/Tokyopop)
08/2009: King City #1 - 3,120 

I was unable to find a ranking for Brandon Graham’s graphic novel version of this that came out a few years ago from Tokyopop. It would have been interesting to see if sales go up with issue 7, which I think is where the completely new material will start, but with sales this low I doubt we’ll see it on the chart again.

————————
It is important to note that for some of these series reorders can make up a sizable percentage of orders. The bottom comic on the chart this month is Poe #2 (Boom), which sold 2,909 copies, anything selling less than that does not show up on these charts. For a comic selling 20,000 copies, reorders of 2,908 copies represent almost 15% of sales. For a comic selling in the thousands reorders of even a few hundred can be pretty important.

[Matthew Murray reads a lot of comics, and has, in the past, worked for a comic book store.]

1 COMMENT

  1. What about Savage Dragon? It got a big bump from the Obama cover, then what?

    (It’s one of my favorite books, actually…)

  2. YES! THANK YOU!

    I would like a full accounting, just like the Marvel and DC lists. If that is much too much work, or difficult due to some titles not making the Top 300 on a consistent basis, at the very least, please note the ranking, the title, and approximate sales for everyone.

    Also, please include a total market share analysis just like DC/Marvel. Break that “other” into companies as well, so we can see shares for Dark Horse, Image, IDW, Boom! …

    Since some titles are published but do not chart, please denote this by placing the issue number in parenthesis and adding a DNC (did not chart) where the circulation number would appear. This will clear up any confusion with independent titles which do not appear on a regular schedule.

    As for combining vegan cooking and comic books, comic books are published on cellulose, which is not digestible by humans, but is considered roughage or dietary fiber. After removing the covers and staples, rinse the pages, then shred, using them as a lettuce substitute in a salad.

  3. I can’t imagine direct-market retailers ordering Archie #600 in these numbers as anything but a collectible, not as a book; it’s a black-bagged Death-of-Superman #75. While there may be a small number of existing DM customers who will buy it, then also read it, and then also discover a rekindled interest in reading the series after the event is over, that number is going to be much smaller than the people who had that experience with Superman #75, which was a genre that the direct market actually supports. Someone walking into a DM shop for the first time just to buy Archie will find nothing else there related to that interest, and won’t keep coming back just to buy that one book. This storyline/event might give Archie a boost through other channels, but not the direct market.

  4. I’ll see about adding Dr. Who next month.

    Dragon did get a fairly large boost for the Obama cover, at least percentage wise.
    Savage Dragon #136 – 6,279
    Savage Dragon #137 – 7,937 (+26.4%)

    However it looks like it lost that immediately, with issue 138 selling 6,133. The most recent issue with numbers (151) sold 6,034 copies. I’ll see about adding it next month though.

    (And I can already see mistakes I made in this. Drat!)

  5. A pleasant surprise to see this column return. That’s a weird schedule for Dark Times, and I agree with the comment to make it a mini-series. It might even be worth it for DH to keep it in the can until completion. I seem to recall teh first five issues took forever to come out, as well.

    Cheers,

    B

  6. Thats what I thought too. Usually Dark Horse and Lucas Film are more on the ball. I thought the book was cancelled or something. Its the only Star Wars book I care about right now.

  7. Hey Matthew,

    Thanks for this. I find it hard to believe that Walking Dead #63 was only bumped a bit by the Chew reprint (I know we ordered an extra dozen specifically because of that, since Diamond shorted us supremely on #1)–are there re-orders included in that number?

    Also, what’s up with Echo dropping half its numbers then tripling them between #s 9 and 11?

  8. The sales on Echo 9 and 10 were split between two months (Jan/Feb and Feb/March). I’m guess it was just a warehouse thing with the east coast getting it the last week of one month, and the west coast getting it the first week or of the next. Or something similar.

    As for Walking Dead, I didn’t see any other reorders in the last two months, but they could have just come in too low for the charts.

  9. Matthew Murray — Don’t worry about mistakes. No matter how thorough you are, mistakes will still creep in.

    I think some people are asking that every book published that is not Marvel or DC be included on this list. That’s over 100 books. I think that is an impossibly difficult task, especially since so many of those titles would only ship every few months. Stick with the top 3-4-5-6 companies that are not Marvel.

  10. I realize this is completely anecdotal, but I have seen copies of Archie #600 in venues – drug stores and supermarkets – that don’t usually carry any comic books and will likely return to that once the glow of Elseworlds Archie has worn off.

  11. Conan’s declining sales have little to with the title of the book. Busiek and Nord aren’t on it anymore, so I for one stopped getting it.

  12. Please continue with the indie sales chart. I find it just as interesting and invaluable as the Marvel and DC charts.

  13. In regards to Archie #600… It’s the Spider-Man Obama cover all over again, without the lines, and for six months instead of one.

    Yeah, there will be some speculators, but many will be curiosity seekers. Almost every male comics reader, and I’d say almost every male under the age of 50, has participated in the “Betty or Veronica?” debate. I’d even conjecture that more people in this country have read an Archie Comics comic book than any other character or universe. This storyline creates an instant connection with the general populace. (Just look at all the vitriol when it was announced that Archie had chosen Veronica over Betty.)

    The smart retailers, they already have a kids comics section where this gets shelved. When customers come in to buy this comic, there will be other titles which will catch their eyes. (DC cartoon tie-ins, Disney and Pixar comics, Marvel Adventures, perhaps a Dark Horse trade of Little Lulu or Richie Rich…)

    Some might even become repetitive customers.

    In other words, this is Free Comic Book Day, but people have to buy the comic book.

  14. Just an FYI on Angel, it’s not one to two issues for the foreseeable future. Bill Willingham is taking on the ongoing writing duties with Angel #28, and his first arc is titled “The Crown Prince Syndrome”. The highly talented Brian Denham is on art. Each issue also features a parallel, back-up story by Bill Williams and David Messina about a new character in the Angelverse, Eddie Hope.

    So, there’s lots more Angel to come. I would know, I’m editing it. :}

  15. Regarding Archie’s overall numbers, it’s not as mysterious as you may think! You can check each title’s Statement of Ownership (usually printed in November cover-dated issues) for total circulation stats. Also, you can check the BPA stats very easily online. I think any industry analysis depends on the full spectrum of sales for a useful snapshot.

    Archie is the third-largest magazine-format comics publisher in the US, hands-down. They may be the third-largest book-format publisher as well, but I haven’t personally looked into BookScan numbers as deeply as newsstand figures.

  16. I agree with Kevin Hines, because he’s smart.

    More of these, PLEASE! So glad to see a bigger picture of the market than just Marvel/DC, but I have to imagine doing DC AND Indies was a grind for MOF in the past.

  17. Very disappointing to see the estimates of Archie Comics’ sell-in numbers to the specialty market.

    Flying Colors has long been a supporter of Archie, Disney, Bongo and other all-ages friendly fare (as well as a wide variety of good comics from many other publishers). That support and the sales that warrant the support have given Flying Colors a real head-start on developing long-term comic book readers.

    Archies are ‘reader-breeders’. We often see young readers matriculate from Archie to other comics, including manga, indies, the Big Two… The point is, when kids become regular comic readers they often become life-long comic readers.

  18. Jesse… The Archie GN line is just getting started. This year seems to be the beginning of a strategic effort to sell Archie Comics GNs. Archie has created many story arcs, with the intention of collecting the stories into GN trades.

    I suspect that the Sonic omnibus collections are the bestsellers.

    And while we’re on the topic…
    http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?box=9781879794511&pos=-1&EAN=9781879794511
    Volume 1? 160p 22 x 6 = 132p
    Is there a sequel in the works? Cheryl Blossom? Jughead? Ms. Beazly?

  19. Mariah: thanks for the info, I saw that Willingham was going to start writing it, but assumed he was just going to do it for a couple of issues. Sorry for the mistake.

    Jesse: I just quickly looked into BPA circulation numbers, and it appears they are only available to people who are involved in the industry. So, unless you know of somewhere online other than their website where I could see the numbers I wouldn’t call them “very easily available”.

    This also doesn’t claim to look at the entire market, just what sells through Diamond to shops in North America.

    Also, as far as I can tell, Archie also publishes relatively few book format comics, so I doubt they’re the third biggest in that regard.

  20. I’m also interested in what happens to King City once issue 7 hits. I have the Tokyopop volume, but am getting the whole Image run. I enjoy the larger format, but I also want to ensure that the Image run will get to issue 7!

  21. I was asking for another Month-to-month Indie Sales, so “Thank You very much !” If you can list every indie comics in the top 300, it will be great and we can see how they’re selling comparing to Marvel and DC.

    As for more information about some titles, I was wondering how Luna brothers’ The Sword was doing.

    Thanks again for this hard work.

  22. “Let me know if there’re any titles you’d like to see included next month.”

    Wasteland and Irredeemable. I’m sure both series’ sales are secure enough to ensure a natural conclusion, but I’m curious how many copies are moving.

    I’d also like to know how Garth Ennis’ Battlefields sells, when that starts up again in a few months.

    And thanks for doing these. Much appreciated.

  23. YAY!

    Thanks for the much needed Sales Chart. There were a couple of errors/mistakes, but I don’t mind. Even if it can’t be done every month, then seeing it occasionally is much better than nothing. :)

  24. Hey Matt — sorry if that sounded like a criticism! It was more of a friendly tip — since you raised the question of supermarket sales I thought I’d hip you to what I know. I know from experience how frustrating it is to spend weeks and weeks digging for the data only to find out that someone could have just told you exactly where it was the whole time, hiding in plain sight.

    As for the BPA numbers, you’re in the industry! You’re a journalist for an online trade publication (see, I can spin a resume up and down!). In all seriousness, it truly is a public site for public info — it’s meant for people who have a vested interest in the sales of a magazine (advertisers, journalists, etc.) to see an independent accounting of what’s up.

    Here are the circ numbers from the last time I checked a few months ago (I believe this was a total 2008 average) for each company’s full line of floppies every month, newsstand and subscription inclusive:

    * Marvel: 4,000,000
    * DC: 2,600,000
    * Archie: 500,000

    And I was only looking at publishers with a significant kids presence so I have my fourth as IDW at 270,000, but Dark Horse or Image may be ahead.

  25. Oh, and those numbers are sure to be off by some percentage — they were pulled together quickly for a presentation and so it entailed some averaging and rounding. I’m sure a real research job would yield more precise figures.

  26. I’m a bit confused by these two statements:

    “93 Star Wars Legacy (Dark Horse)
    The best selling Star Wars title.

    102 Star Wars Invasion (Dark Horse)
    Outsells all the other Star Wars ongoings by at least several thousand.”

    Star Wars Legacy appears to be an ongoing Star Wars title which outsells Star Wars Invasion. I don’t read either book, so perhaps there’s some reason you don’t consider Star Wars Legacy an ongoing title?

  27. Jesse: Thanks! I’ll check out the site when I have some time.

    John: I said “other” meaning I excluded legacy, but I guess I wasn’t totally clear.

  28. I believe GI Joe #8 was a switch in artist but it might have been a natural breaking point for an arc as well.

    Thanks for doing this chart! While not all of my favorites in here its nice to see some of the ones getting some analysis!

  29. I am glad to see that the indie list is back up again. I would like to see Witchblade and The Darkness added to it. I did buy the archie comics as well. I was annoyed that it was just an imaginary event and not one in their normal continuity.

  30. I love seeing these charts–it’s really interesting to see what independent comics are thriving, and which ones I should force my friends to read in whatever attempt I can make to help them survive.

    With the upcoming Image United, I think it would be very interesting to see the various associated titles–Savage Dragon, Witchblade, Youngblood, Spawn–covered, as well, to look into what increases there may be with crossover issues and whether or not the titles retain said increases when those crossovers end. It’s a unique event in the industry, and I’m very interested in seeing the financial results.

    Personally, I’d also love to see Phonogram’s sales tracked, but unfortunately I don’t know if it’s a book that makes the charts–either way, the publishing schedule for the miniseries has experienced delays, so it may not be a viable addition here.

  31. The Sonic digests are counterproductive in my house. My 10 year old loves the individual issues, but the B&W reprints on smaller pages do nothing for him. I think I could convert him if they were closer to full size.

  32. It’s great to have this list, it’s every bit as important and interesting as the Marvel and DC ones. Definitely factor in Savage Dragon and Dr. Who!

  33. I agree with some of the others that I’d be interested to see some of the Image superhero books, but honestly I’m just kinda thrilled to see the return of this chart.
    I hope the King City books increase their numbers so that the new material can start getting cranked out.
    Thanks!

  34. Thanks for doing this Matthew! I know you can’t include every book but I’d be interested in seeing how the Boom! Disney/Pixar books are doing as well as the higher profile licensed books like Farscape for example.

    Hope to see you stick around!

  35. Find it hilarious that Mayhem sold as poorly as it did. The guy was in the godawful Transformers and sites like CBR and Newsarama hype project like no one’s business.